Newport design duo John Farley and Russell Britton of Autografik Design are setting the record straight - creative enterprises can have style and substance when it comes to running a successful business.

At the age of 24, designers-come-entrepreneurs, Jon and Russell have merged innovative design abilities with solid business skills to develop an exciting venture, with assistance from business support agency, Newport & Gwent Enterprise (NGE).

Autografik Design, part of a cluster group of local companies called 'Cube Creative, covers four main areas of graphic design service from its offices at Newport Provisions Market: corporate design, design for social cause, music, and arts. This provides the kind of freedom and diversity that enables the partnership to keep coming up with exciting designs. "One day we could be working on a corporate identity brief, the next an album cover comes in. Our client base has grown with us over the past two years to a point that we get to work with all kinds of businesses", say the partners, whose first big job together was a CD album cover for BBC Wales' talent show, 'Just Up Your Street'.

After graduating from UWN in 2003 with highly experimental portfolios and little commercial experience, Jon and Russell quickly discovered the competition for media jobs in Wales was fierce. But with offers of work flooding in, the pair started looking into self-employment. It was then they met Catrin Williams, Business Adviser for Newport & Gwent Enterprise. "Catrin encouraged us to go for it", says Russell, "and has provided a great deal of support since then. We started to learn about the support available to start-up businesses, and what we didn't know we have picked up on the way with help from NGE."

As a pre-start creative business, Autografik was able to test the local market under NGE's Taste of Enterprise scheme. The project gave Jon and Russell a chance to develop a business plan, and to attend the Enterprise Agency's business skills courses.

After securing a loan to buy equipment, the UWN graduates were successful in their application for KEF Scholarship Fund, a real boost to the business, which allowed them to build up a customer base without financial worries. Grant support from Newport City Council further aided the duo. "Around this time, Russell won 'Best in Wales' for an MTV design competition, held in conjunction with the electoral commission to encourage MTV youth to vote", said Jon. Just months later, Autografik swooped the prestigious title of Shell LiveWire 'Entrepreneur of the Year' for South East Wales.

Autografik now feel they have enough experience to begin applying for the larger tenders. Current clients range from Newport City Council to the Salvation Army, as well as a host of trendy new bands and art-based businesses drawn to the more experimental side of Autografik's portfolio.

Jon says: "We treat each job with the same level of importance because every piece of work you do is a reflection of yourself". By applying the same open-mindedness to learning about business as they have in their approach to design, Jon and Russell have created a successful business model that is sure to take them far. "The support we have had from NGE has been essential to us starting up successfully", he says. "we really can't praise the service enough".

Future plans won't just concentrate on the business, though website redevelopment and growing the business are short-term goals. This spring, Autografik will visit local schools and Universities, encouraging young people to consider self-employment as a viable option under the Dynamo Project. Jon says: "We have surprised ourselves by how much we enjoy running our business, and it's hard now to imagine doing anything else now!".

For further information, please contact: Russell Britton and Jon Farley of Autografik Design on 01633 266770 or visit www.autografikdesign.com